Henry Harris was living his dream as a staff sergeant in the Marines. When he's killed in action, his devastated family is in for one more shock: he had a daughter they never knew about.

Morgan Riley has been raising Etta on her own, and that's always been fine by her - until Henry's brother Trevor arrives on her doorstep, willing to do anything to help and make up for his brother's mistakes. Their attraction feels wrong, but Morgan can't seem to turn him away.

Trevor is suddenly in too deep. He has always wanted a family, but Etta and Morgan come with complications. Yet as Etta brings them closer together, Trevor begins to imagine giving Morgan and Etta the life his brother never could. But he wonders if Morgan will ever learn to trust another man with her heart, especially a man whose last name is Harris.

HEART OF GLASS

by Nicole Jacquelyn

There’s something to be said about reading a book by an author you’ve never read before. You have nothing to compare it to, no expectations and can read without bias (if you stay away from reviews, that is). So when reviewers remark that there isn’t as much angst as in the previous stories in the series I can smile and and enjoy the ride.

That feeling, the one I knew I was supposed to have, the one every parent had, even the shitty parents? I didn’t feel it.

The prologue is the first emotional punch. It’s told from the hero’s brother Henry’s point of view and leaves you with a slew of questions. We learn fast that Henry has passed away and left a daughter behind who he couldn’t connect with but he made sure that her future would be secured if something happenend to him while he was a Marine. He left his family in the dark about his daughter so it’s an understatement when i say they were angry.

Trevor, like his brother Henry grew up in a foster family so he has zero understanding why Henry never told them about Etta. It’s something I would have liked to know, too but this was never really addressed which I found a little sad because it made Henry look like a jerk. He basically denied his daughter the chance to get to know his family.

I missed him like hell. I was also so angry with him that I wanted to punch something.

Trevor is a good guy and very likeable. His little insecurities with Morgan in the beginning of the story really endeared him to me an made him feel real. With Morgan being a runner though, he was a little in danger of becoming a doormat. There is ony so much patience I have for a woman who runs hot and cold with a male character. And Trevor forgave Morgan a lot. Fortunately he took charge of the situation in the end.

As mentioned Morgan was complicated. She also spent two months in the foster system after her drug addict mother passed away and her dad was in prison for a minor charge. She definitely had issues. I have to admit, issues aside, I really liked her as a person. The way she was with Etta was wonderful. However, she didn’t treat Trevor the way he deserved to be treated and I got really frustrated with her at some point.

Why in the hell did certain people have such easy lives when the rest of us had to fight for every piece of happiness we could grasp? And then, when life was ready to give us something good, why was it so hard for the have-nots just to accept it? Why was I standing in the arms of a man I cared about, one who’d forgiven me for treating him like crap, and I couldn’t even hug him back?

Then there was Henry, Shane and Trev’s mother. God. She was a mess. I know she’d lost her son but damn. Trevor described her as a saint but the face she showed us was bitchy and spiteful. I can’t say I felt a lot of love for her.

The relationship between Morgan and Trevor didn’t feel super-organic. They met twice, talked on the phone and texted…
..and Trevor knew he was in love.

The ending was a little abrupt and I would have loved to see an epilogue.

I know I said a lot of things that didn’t make this sound great, but there is a reason this still gets a fairly high rating: I really enjoyed this story. I read fast through it and was invested the whole time.

It was easy to let Trevor and Morgan pull me into story, Nicole Jacquelyn’s writing style is very pleasant and fluid.
With all the niggles I had I loved learning about Trevor, Morgan and their families. I loved Trevor and Morgan I adored Etta and I fell in love with Trev’s meddling relatives and would love to read the previous books in this series. The next book is definitely on my radar and I can’t wait to find out who it will be about!